December

Well, everything here is going great. Brandon is amazing us each and everyday with what he can do and the new things he learns. This week he has mastered waving. Anytime anyone says HI or BYE he waves. It's so stinking cute. He loves to blow kisses and also claps anytime anyone says yay, or if anyone else claps.

We got his first conference form back from daycare. They had LOTS of great things to say about him. Here are a few of the nice things they said...
-Brandon is very comfortable interacting with new people and new situations.
-He enjoys being around and playing with other children.
-He is developing the realization that familiar objets can be used in conventional ways.
-Continues to develop the ability to pull himself to standing.

and many more.

Brandon has for sure gotten down the pulling himself to standing thing by now. He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING. The couch, the chairs, the rocker, the stairs, tv trays.... Lots of things he isn't supposed to but we are working on letting him know which items are ok and which are not safe.

He crawls around very quick now. Sometimes it amazes me how fast he can follow us to another room or get into something he shouldn't be. We definitely have our hands full now. We have to literally watch him every second.

We are planning a trip to Aberdeen next week to visit all of our family in SD. I hope we can see everyone with this short trip. At this point we are hoping the weather is going to be good enough for us to travel in so we can get there safely and not have to cancel yet another trip. We will celebrate Christmas there and then come home and work a bit and then celebrate Christmas here as well with Grandma and Grandpa D.

I guess that's all for now. We are headed to the mall of america once again today to finish up some Christmas shopping and to have some lunch. Brandon loves strolling in his stroller at the mall and watching all the things go by.

We are very excited for Brandon to celebrate his first Christmas. We will for sure post lots of pictures of him opening his gifts up later on. We hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas.

The Sandmeiers

Thanksgiving

Well, we were supposed to make it to Aberdeen for Thanksgiving this year, and like many other years, the weather kept us home. We were very sad to not be able to see Grandma and Grandpa Sandmeier and Uncle Andy, Aunt Lynn and new cousin Atlas. Instead we stayed home and made our own Thanksgiving dinner ourselves for the first time. We did a Beer Butt Chicken instead of a turkey and we had a Green Bean Casserole, Stuffing and Mashed Potatoes. Then I made a Strawberry/Blueberry Crisp for dessert. All was very good.

Brandon is changing soooo much just in the past few days. He is crawling up on his knees now, as you can see from the video at the top of the blog. He has just learned how to Blow Kisses (although he wont do this all the time quite yet) He can somewhat wave goodbye too. He has figured out how to pull himself to standing on pretty much anything. Including the stairs.. He figured out how to crawl up to the second step so far. OMG... So we will be going to buy some safety gates this next coming weekend.

He now has 6 teeth and one more that is about to poke through on the top. That will make 4 on top and 3 on bottom. You would think this would widen his food choices but sadly no. He is sticking to what he likes and that's it so far. He still has a problem with food textures so he wont eat too many finger foods. So far his favorites are the gerber wagon wheels, or gerber lil cheddar puffs (kinda like Cheetos, but healthier). He loves most kinds of crackers, and also LOVES Laughing Cow triangles of Light Swiss cheese. Tonight I gave him some corn flakes and he seemed to like those as well. Anything that is slippery or slimy he wont eat yet. So cut up fruits and veggies are pretty much out.

We are getting very excited for Brandon's first Christmas. We did put the tree up this weekend and so far he hasn't bothered it one bit. So we'll see how long that lasts.

Jason and I are doing pretty good as well. Jason is just getting over having strep throat, so it's probably a good thing that we stayed home from Aberdeen. We wouldn't want to get anyone else sick. So far Brandon and I have not gotten it. Thank God.

That's all for now, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and we'll see ya later

Sandmeiers

First Halloween

Our little TIgger on his first Halloween. He did such a good job in his costume. He didn't even mind having it on. We took a trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Drangstveit and also Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Drangstveit too to show B off in his costume. It was a fun time.

Minnehaha Falls

We have really been enjoying Minnehaha Falls this summer and fall a lot. We have been going there at least twice a month I would say. They have a wonderful little restaurant there named Sea Salt. They serve very fresh fish and all types of seafood. It is very good. We like to take strolls along the paths and check out the Falls too. Lately the Falls have been very rapid. Kinda cool to see.

Last week we went there and the Fall colors were SOOO beautiful we went back this week to take some fall pictures. Unfortunately most of the trees had lost their leaves in just a week, but we found this really pretty orange tree to take some fun pictures by.

B even got to swing at the playground for his first time. He really enjoyed it.

We have been battling this cough for the past week that Brandon has had. I don't think it's anything too serious. He is still sleeping well and eating pretty good too so we aren't too concerned yet. Hopefully it goes away soon though. Now I think I caught it too as I have had a sore throat this week too. But the lady at daycare says it is definitely going around so, I guess there isn't too much we can do about it.

That's about all for now. Will post again soon.

Way too long....

I am so sorry it's been so long since I have updated this. We have been busy I guess.

Well B is 8.5 months old now. He is getting to be so big. I can't believe it. He has mastered the 'army crawl' all around the place now. Now we really gotta watch him. He really likes to Pull up the cords along the wall for the surround sound and he loves to go up to the fireplace and scratch the screen. We tell him no but he is having a hard time understanding that one still.

He has now also gotten his top two front teeth.

We also had an addition to the family too... Brandons new cousin Atlas was born on September 7th. He was 8 lbs and 11 oz I think. Andy and Lynn are very excited and are wonderful parents.

We got to take a trip to SD and meet little Atlas. It was a really good time.

I guess that's all for now. I will post some updated pictures when I get some more time. Love you all.. Thanks for reading.

Brandon getting older

First Tooth

So B got his first two front teeth today. Well probably over night. We had a rough night last night, he was so unhappy, now we know why. All night and today he has had a super stuffed up and runny nose. I figured he was getting sick. But then today Jason noticed the two front teeth sticking out. ha ha.. they are soooo cute. So that explains a lot. He has been napping a ton today in between, sucking the snot out of his nose today. But whatever makes him feel better. We are ok with. I hope he starts feeling better soon.

We also got B's 6 month pictures done last week. They turned out SO SO cute. We ordered some cute ones, and we should get them back by next weekend I think.

We are very excited for Stephanie and Marks wedding next week, we can't wait to see the whole family for a few days. Should be good fun.

B has also mastered sitting up on his own now. he is so good at it. Just a tiny bit tippy still but thats mostly cuz he gets excited while hes sitting up and waves his arms and legs all around which sometimes makes him fall..

That's all for now. I will post some pictures when I get some more time.

Danielle